Technical Tips - Online file sharing, synchronisation, and backup

What is online file sharing, synchronisation, and backup?

If you've ever wanted to work on the same file from a number of computers, or share a file with family, friends or colleagues, then you know how tricky this can be. You can swop files from office computer to home computer using a memory stick, and you can email files to others (or even yourself), but you know how difficult it is keeping track of the most recent version.

There are now a number of products which seek to solve this problem by synchronising files between different computers, with the added bonus of providing access to these files from any web browser, the total process becoming known as "cloud storage". But beware! Some products which are excellent for synchronising are no good for backup - delete the file on one computer and it's gone from them all, for ever. Conversely, some good backup products are just that - and you'll need to access the online backup to ensure that you are working on the latest file.

The technology is currently evolving very fast but was summarised well in PC Pro's Cloud Storage Applications review in June 2009. The newly-rebuilt PC Pro website does not seem to include the overall review article any more, but you can read the reviews of individual applications from this link and the earlier opinions of others below.

Dropbox or Live Mesh?

Recommended software

Dropbox [www.getdropbox.com] : I've been using Dropbox since November 2008, and tested Microsoft's Live Mesh in February/March 2009. Live Mesh got a higher overall rating in the PC Pro review (see above) but Dropbox has some advantages for the way that I work. My personal assessment of the most significant differences follows.

Compare Dropbox and Live Mesh

Dropbox Live Mesh
www.getdropbox.com www.mesh.com
Instant sign-up with
Email + Password		 Instant sign-up with
Windows Live ID Account
2GB of free storage
+ $99 per year for additional 50GB		 5GB of free storage
(only, at present)
Creates My Dropbox folder and synchronises folders and files within the My Dropbox folder only. Synchronises any folder.
See Key Point 1 below
Maintains revision history and copies of deleted files. Previous versions, and deleted files, can be restored. Does not keep online copies of deleted files.
See Key Point 2 below
Very minimal, maybe too-minimal, Web 2.0 styling. Very Vista.
See Key Point 3 below
Dropbox
Probably slightly better for pro-active tasks, such as file sharing and collaborating with others. Likely to appeal more to those who want to stay in control of the process.
Read PCPro Review.		 Live Mesh
Probably slightly better for back-ground tasks, such as synchronisation of critical files and folders. Likely to appeal more to those who want to install-and-forget.
Read PCPro Review.

Key points

  • 1. This is one of the major differences between the products at present (August 2009), although Dropbox are looking to provide the sync-any-folder facility in the future. Both options have their advantages so it's probably down to personal preference.
  • 2. This is another major difference between the products and, effectively, rules-out Live Mesh as a backup facility - delete a file on your local computer and it's deleted immediately from your "mesh", with no facility to recoved deleted files.
  • 3. The two products are so similar in every way, except the way that they look, that a personal preference for the look of one could easily be the deciding factor.

Read the opinions of others

Other products

An indication of just how quickly this market is developing is that the products covered when I first published this page in Summer 2008 have now been comprehensively overtaken by Dropbox and Live Mesh, and others have come into my radar over recent months. The best place to start is the PC Pro reviews of Online Backup Software but I list, below, three products not yet included.

  • Box.net [www.box.net] : A deceptively simple, and highly-intuitive, interface but the product is completely web-based so it's basically just a sharing and backup solution without the background file synchronisation of Dropbox and Live Mesh.
  • BT Digital Vault [www.productsandservices.bt.com] : Primarily marketed as a file backup service for the non-technical home user and included here solely because it's a product that some UK users will be familiar with.
  • Woobius [www.woobius.com] : Not directly comparable to any of the other products listed, and I haven't tested it yet, but I've included it here because it uses technology very similar to Dropbox and Live Mesh to offer a neat alternative to the highly-sophisticated, and extremely expensive, project extranet systems used for many major UK construction projects.
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